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A22
THURSDAY,
MAY 12,
2016
• Twitter: @GuardianTT • Web: guardian.co.tt
A product of Guardian Media Ltd
Contact us
Editor-in-Chief, Orin Gordon---
orin.gordon@guardian.co.tt
Editor,
Irving Ward---
irving.ward@guardian.co.tt
Chief Editor---Business, Anthony Wilson---
anthony.wilson@guardian.co.tt
News Editors, Robert Alonzo---
robert.alonzo@guardian.co.tt
Darren Bahaw---
darren.bahaw@guardian.co.tt
Sports Editor, Valentino Singh---
valentino.singh@guardian.co.tt
Email the Editor: letters@guardian.co.tt
Newsroom (daily) Telephone: 225-4465,
ext 2042, 2043, 2003, 2005
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Daniela Tramacere, Charge
d'Affairs of the Delegation of
the European Union, third
left, and Major General
(retired) Edmund Dillon,
Minister of National Security,
acting for the Minister of
Foreign Affairs, centre, pose
with Representatives of EU
Member States, Dr Michael
Freudenberg, Deputy Head of
Mission, Embassy of the
Federal Republic of Germany,
left, José Maria Fernández
López de Turiso, Ambassador
of Spain; Fiona Grant, Deputy
British High Commissioner;
Héidi Picquart, Ambassador
of France; and Jules Bijl,
Ambassador of the Kingdom
of the Netherlands at a
reception hosted by the
Charge d'Affaires of the
Delegation of the European
Union on the occasion of
Europe Day at the European
Union Residence, Mary
Street, St Clair, on Monday.
PHOTO: ANDRE ALEXANDER
MARKING EUROPE DAY
ALBERTA---The news late yesterday
that 90 per cent of buildings have
survived the massive wildfire that
forced Canadian authorities to evacuate
the city of Fort McMurray is cause for
some amount of relief.
"It was a miracle we got the entire
population out safely," Alberta's
provincial premier, Rachel Notley, was
reported as telling journalists.
We extend our sympathies to the
people and Government of Canada who
have been great friends of Jamaica for
decades. Our hope is that they will
recover from this disaster as quickly as
possible.
The Fort McMurray experience has
caused us to reflect on our own
situation here in Jamaica, especially as
we approach the summer months when
bush fires tend to affect this country in
a number of areas.
We recall that last year May about
367 hectares of forests were lost to
fires. Indeed, firefighters were kept busy
as there was a significant increase in
the number of bush fires when
compared to 2014.
In early July, approximately 62 coffee
farmers in the hills of St Thomas were
estimated to have suffered loss in the
region of $24 million, a figure that was
expected to climb to $72 million over a
three-year period.
In addition to the large swathes of
farm land, people living in the affected
areas lost their homes and livestock.
It emerged that a root cause of some
of the problem was the practice of
people to light fires, particularly to clear
land for agricultural use. In response, the
Forestry Department, in collaboration
with the Jamaica Fire Brigade,
embarked on a public awareness
programme designed to highlight the
dangers of lighting fires to clear land or
burn garbage.
Hopefully, that message has sunk in
and the country will not have a similar
experience this year.---Observer
Sound Off: Canada's wildfire holds message for Jamaica
Thus far, the move to enforce
the speed limit with radar
guns has had some unin-
tended consequences. While
many drivers have slowed down
on the highway, a significant
minority continues to drive as
they did before, the difference
now being that they have to
weave between other cars more
since the differential between fast
drivers and slow drivers is now
wider.
This in itself increases the like-
lihood of accidents, hence the
reason that speed limits in more
developed countries are some-
times increased for road safety.
The use of radar guns has also
led to police vehicles having to
chase drivers down the highway
in order to serve them speeding
tickets. Sometimes, the officers
have to pursue the oblivious
drivers for several miles before
they pull aside, and have to do
so by speeding between the traf-
fic lanes, which is an obviously
dangerous practice.
Ironically, this is exactly why
speed traps were suspended
almost a decade ago. When the
Occupational Safety and Health
Act (OSHA) was passed in 2006,
police officers doing speed traps
were deemed to be in contraven-
tion of the law, since the three
officers---two to measure, one to
step out on the highway---were
putting themselves at unaccept-
able risk. Chasing down errant
drivers may well fall under this
definition as well.
However, the main effect of
radar gun use has been to create
traffic on the highways in the
middle of the day. The conse-
quent effect on productivity will
soon make itself felt, and this is
particularly dire given the coun-
try s economic contraction.
Unfortunately, the authorities
are approaching this issue with
typical contempt for ordinary cit-
izens. On the first day that driv-
ers were ticketed, for example,
the Trinidad and Tobago Police
Service issued a media release
boasting about catching a driver
doing 85 kph.
Presumably, the TTPS commu-
nications officers wanted to
emphasise how precise the radar
guns were, but as communica-
tions experts they should have
realised that punishing such small
infractions would simply lose
goodwill for a police force already
perceived as incapable of catching
"real criminals", whether violent
or white-collar.
Moreover, police officers them-
selves are apparently frustrated
by the heavy highway traffic,
since there has been an increase
in the blue-and-yellow patrol
cars speeding down the highway
shoulder.
This is a issue on which the
Keith Rowley regime could find
post-electoral buyer s regret rising
more rapidly than usual. Trans-
port Minister Fitzgerald Hinds in
a television interview this week,
speaking in a righteous manner,
admitted that the highways are
designed for 120 kph but that the
traffic bureaucrats chose 80 kph
for a safety margin. Put that way,
the powers-that-be are again
displaying lack of trust in citi-
zens capabilities and adopting a
Big Brother rather than coopera-
tive approach to policy.
Traffic expert Rae Furlonge in a
CNC3 interview has asserted that
a 120 kph speed limit was within
acceptable safety margins. And it
is certainly the case that traffic
accidents did not increase signifi-
cantly when speed traps were
suspended ten years ago.
However, when it comes to
people driving above 120 kph and
speeding down the shoulder and
otherwise driving recklessly, there
certainly needs to be more
enforcement and rapid penalties.
That would be very useful.
But the introduction of the
radar guns seems to have been
done without consideration of all
the ramifications. Now that relat-
ed measures must be introduced
after the fact, the Government
would do well to proceed quickly,
but safely.
The challenges of 80 kph
However, the main effect of radar gun use has been to create traffic on the highways
in the middle of the day. The consequent effect on productivity will soon make itself
felt, and this is particularly dire given the country's economic contraction.